Oberlin Opera Theater presents Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus

OBERLIN, OH — Oberlin Opera Theater is proud to present Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”), under the baton of Maestro Raphael Jiménez, and directed by Jonathon Field. The production opens in Hall Auditorium Wednesday, March 13 at 8 p.m., and continues with additional shows on Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m., and Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. The production will be sung in English.

Set in 19th century Vienna, Die Fledermaus is one of Johann Strauss’s most celebrated and popular operettas, filled with lively melodies and unforgettable waltzes. The light, comic work as described by Director Jonathon Field, “Die Fledermaus has long been the New Year's Eve opera in Vienna, and we are giving it a touch of spring's awakening this March. It is a well-made soup of mistaken identities, revenge, saucy maids, philandering husbands, and ambiguous Russians. It is guaranteed to bring a smile to all in the audience.”

The cast for this production of Die Fledermaus is comprised entirely of Oberlin Conservatory students. Two casts alternate with one cast performing on Wednesday and Saturday, the other on Friday and Sunday.

 
Tickets for Die Fledermaus are $15 for the general public; $10 for seniors and Oberlin College faculty, staff, and alumni; and $6 for students. All seats are reserved. Tickets may be purchased online at www.oberlin.edu/artsguide/tickets; by calling Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service (CTS) 440-775-8169 or 800-371-0178; or by visiting the box office, located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium. CTS hours are noon to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday and select Saturdays. Tickets are $3 more when purchased at the door. Hall Auditorium is wheelchair accessible, and hearing enhancement is available upon request. Free parking is available throughout the campus.

FACT SHEET

Oberlin Opera Theater presents Die Fledermaus

Hall Auditorium 67 N. Main Street, Oberlin, Ohio

Wednesday, March 13, 8 p.m.
Friday, March 15, 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 16, 8 p.m.
Sunday, March 17, 2 p.m.

TICKETS
Reserved seats: $15; seniors $10; students $6
All tickets are $3 more when purchased at the door.
Online: www.oberlin.edu/artsguide/tickets
Phone: 440-775-8169 or 800-371-0178
Central Ticket Service is located in the lobby of Hall Auditorium.
Open noon to 5 p.m., Monday – Friday

Free parking is available throughout the campus.

PERFORMERS

Principal Roles will be played by:
Gabriel von Eisenstein: Rob McGinness ‘13 & Joshua Blue ’16 
Rosalinde: Alexis Aimé ’14 & Meryl Dominguez ’15 
Adele:  Aubry Ballaro-Hagadorn ’14 & Lacey Harms ‘13
Dr. Falke: Bill Townsend ’14 & Aaron Keeney ’15 
Alfred: Daniel King ’15 
Prince Orlofsky: Nicole Levesque ’14 & Kayleigh Decker ’15 
Dr. Blind: Michael Patterson ’14 
Frank: Daveed Buzaglo ’16 
Sally:  Danielle Cheiken ’14 & Abigail Clyne ‘13
Frosch: Joseph Trumbo ’15

Chorus:
Sopranos: Rebecca Achtenberg ’15, Danielle Cheiken ’14, Abigail Clyne ’13, Alyssa Hesel ’14, Heidi Middendorf ’15, Rosie Williams ’15
Mezzos: Julia Farbstein ’15, Hannah Hagerty ’15, Amelia Keenan ’15, Rebecca Printz ’16, Ann Sauter ’16
Tenors: Zane Hill ‘16, Evan Hines ‘16, Markos Simopoulos ‘16, Taylor Thompson ‘13, Michael Vallikappil ‘16
Basses: Michael Floriano ’16, Jason Goldberg ’15, Samuel Heaton ’16, DeRon McDaniel ’16, John Schmieg ’16
Waiters/Maids: Perri DiChristina ’15, Tess Klibanoff ’17, Adam Wells ’16

About Raphael Jiménez, Director of Oberlin Orchestras

Conductor Raphel Jiménez joined the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as associate professor of conducting and director of Oberlin orchestras in 2011. Born in Florida and raised in Venezuela, Jiménez began his musical life as a violinist. While he was a member of the Simón Bolívar National Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, he was assigned his first conducting responsibility at the Venezuelan National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras (El Sistema). He was soon conducting all the professional orchestras in the country and was appointed Principal Conductor of the Caracas National Ballet at the age of twenty-two, leading the orchestra in the numerous performances of the most representative works of this genre including Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Firebird, Coppelia, Cinderella, and Romeo and Juliet.

Jiménez began his opera experience as assistant conductor at the Teresa Carreño Center for the Performing Arts and has since served as music director to productions of La Bohème, Barber of Seville, La Traviata, Così fan tutte, Marriage of Figaro, Florencia en el Amazonas, Rake’s Progress, Don Giovanni, and Tales of Hoffmann, to name a few.

Jiménez devotes great effort to the promotion of new music, especially of works by Latin American composers, and has been recognized for his diverse and eclectic programming. He has had the privilege of premiering numerous works including the world premiere of and flowers pick themselves featured on the eponymous recording.

He enjoys a very active career receiving critical acclaim with frequent invitations to conduct symphonic concerts, ballets, and opera productions. Recent appearances include performances in China with the orchestras of Zhejiang and Guanxi; in Latin America with the symphony orchestras of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Puerto Rico; and leading the opera orchestras of Lubeck in Germany and Palm Beach in Florida. He has also conducted the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Florida Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica Municipal de Caracas, Lansing Symphony, Battle Creek Symphony, and the Filene Center Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C.

About Jonathon Field, Director of the Oberlin Opera Theater

Stage Director Jonathon Field has become one of America’s more versatile and popular stage directors. A trailblazer in the world of opera, Field is fascinated with traditional as well as modern stage techniques. He has developed and used video-projected scenery for over twenty-five years in productions that have been called “brilliant,” “dazzling” and “riveting.” Field is currently the Director of the Oberlin Opera Theater and an Associate Professor at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

Field directed the American premiere of Lost Highway, an opera based on the David Lynch film that played to sold-out performances at the Miller Theater in New York. He directed the world premiere of the jazz opera Leave Me Alone in a partnership between Oberlin Conservatory and Real Time Opera, which was one of the first operas to broadcast live on the Internet. His productions for Lyric Opera of Chicago of Trouble in Tahiti, Gianni Schicchi, the Old Maid and the Thief, and the Spanish Hour were successfully revived at the Illinois Humanities Festival. He directed touring productions of La Cenerentola and Die Fledermaus for San Francisco Opera’s Western Opera Theatre, which played in over twenty states. Over the past eight years Field directed ten productions with Arizona Opera, being deemed by the press “their most perceptive stage director.” From 2000 through 2006 he served as Artistic Director of Lyric Opera Cleveland, where he presented the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and the Ohio premieres of works by John Adams, Mark Adamo, and Philip Glass. Field received a Northern Ohio Live Award for his work on Don Giovanni in Cleveland, which was called “an electrifying production that has come to be the hallmark of Field’s tenure.”

Field has been praised for his international work as well, having directed the Riverboat Show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Dido and Aeneas at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Suor Angelica and Menotti’s Amalia al Ballo at the Urbania Festival in Italy. He has collaborated with such esteemed artists as Teresa Zylis-Gara, Jerome Hines, Pablo Elvira, Giorgio Tozzi, and Angelina Reux. Field’s expertise extends from the avant-garde to musical comedy. In 1996, he introduced computer-generated scenery to the opera world in a production of Candide at West Bay Opera in Silicon Valley, CA, with assistance from Apple, Inc. The press called the show “virtual Voltaire - the backgrounds are as varied as the story.” He pioneered the use of video-projected scenery in productions of the Turn of the Screw, Tales of Hoffmann, and Der Freischütz. In the realm of operetta and musical theatre, Field staged H.M.S. Pinafore for Opera Omaha, Trial by Jury for Lake George Opera, Bernstein’s Wonderful Town in Chicago, and Merry Widow and Countess Maritza in San Francisco. For the Oakland Symphony he translated and choreographed Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, using members of the Oakland Ballet.